Book can be found in:
Genre = Economics
Intriguing Connections = Capitalism, Socialism, their Alternatives and Critiques
Elaborate Description
Chomsky is right to make the claim that when the doctrine of 'free trade' is verbalized in the United states, that it is because it is in the U.S.'s interest, while when free trade helps other nations the U.S. has protectionist policies. The problem under discussion appears to be corporations that control government which make decisions that do not support the people it is meant to represent. Underlying the whole argument is that the government says yes to the corporations when it has the right to say no.
By accepting donations and agreeing to help large corporation by providing policies that insure less competition for the corporation. What it means is that the politicians should start by not wanting to help themselves at the expense of everyone else and then blaming the corporations. Hayek made a good point by claiming that the U.S. does not have a democracy, but what the U.S. does have is an unlimited democracy which can tell the people what to do by legislating whatever the special interest parties want. The special interest parties are not only corporations, but the politicians who gain power by claiming to help the people by proving the legislation. Chomsky, even though of a different political opinion than Hayek, would nevertheless agree with Hayek about the mechanism that causes policies to be corrupted.
The implication made in the book is that free market causes the powerful to take from the less powerful. The notion of mercantilism is all about colonialization and protectionism while taking in money and forcing the colonies to give the resources and buy the products. Mercantilism is what is being described in this book by the name of Neoliberalism. Mercantilism is the reason why Adam Smith wrote the book The Wealth of Nations, which is a response against mercantilism. Chomsky seems to lay blame on an idea that was not thoroughly researched. Much like the politicians claim corporations are evil when the politicians says yes to what the corporation does, Chomsky claims that free market is wrong when governments do the exact opposite of a free market.
Book Details
Pages to read: 160
Publication: 1998
1st Edition: 1998
Format: Paperback
Ratings out of 5:
Readability 4
Content 4
Overall 4
